


Raining in Iron City

by Serriya (Keolah)



Series: Interdimensional Bridge [7]
Category: Vampire: The Masquerade, Warhammer 40.000
Genre: Angst, Gen, Rain, Vampires
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-02-25
Updated: 2006-02-25
Packaged: 2017-12-09 13:57:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,816
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/774985
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Keolah/pseuds/Serriya
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A vampire hunter runs across a whiny elf.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Raining in Iron City

They say it's always raining in Iron City. The thick black clouds would hardly show sunlight if the planet of Mezulbryst even actually had a sun. Most of its residents tended to prefer it that way, anyway. Lightning flashed in the sky and the clouds poured down their never-ending torrent of rain upon the shadowy city.

The faint sound of flute music wafted out over the darkened alleyways, haunting and melancholy over the pounding of the rain. Underneath the eaves of a building, leaning against the wall, there was an elf playing the flute. He was a tall man, with a shock of long, pink hair and distinctive pointed ears.

Rain was a good thing, Falk mused with dark humor, it worked wonders for washing away the stain of blood on the walls. Not that there was any that he'd put there tonight, but it was always a possible outcome of one of his jaunts, seemed there were an endless number of lowlifes and scumbags wandering the streets of any world that needed to be put out of their misery. This world seemed to be worse than others.

Feeding on the misery of others was one of his peeves, a big one, and the bloodsuckers here tended to take that to new heights/depths with each new encounter. Didn't mean that the normal thug on the street couldn't be just as monstrous, but they were at least more likely to think twice about it before deciding on something that would bring them up for the long jump if he found out about it.

Victims walked blithely into their grasp quite often, though, and it really was enough to drive him crazy sometimes. He shook his head as he heard music, a flute no less, echoing along the dark pathways, and moved quietly in that direction. Someone was just aching to get mugged or worse, it seemed, may as well go and see who the victim du jour was and try to shoo them off.

Rounding the corner and spying the man, Falk swore quietly to himself, not only were they sounding the mating call of the local thugs but they had the pretty long hair and familiar face that would make the lowlifes drool uncontrollably.

"Little far from home, aren't you?" he asked conversationally, stopping nearby and turning the collar of his trench coat up against the rain.

Although Pyroluminescence did go on tour occasionally, they rarely bothered much with Iron City, and seeing him here without the band must be something of a shock.

Sheniro pulled the flute away from his lips and looks over at the man blankly. "I don't have a home," he murmured. "That which might have once been home to me is no longer what it once was."

Shock would imply something beyond mere recognition, perhaps investing some sort of interest beyond indifference in the band. Falk tended to have other things on his mind and things to do, the concept of 'fun' lost long ago and far away.

"No home, eh?" Falk smirked. "Join the club. Don't see your type often in the dark underside, may want to find a hole to hide in before something crawls out to bite you."

"Don't care," Sheniro muttered. "I'd hardly deserve less for all I've done."

"Looking to be a victim?" Falk snorted. "That's not a new one, plenty of things out this way that'd be more than happy to oblige. Wouldn't recommend it, personally, but hey I have this thing about breathing. Kinda enjoy the habit."

"The pit of filth that Torn Elkandu has degenerated into... it's all my fault. And it's all my doing that Terrestia, Lezaria, and so many other places have fallen to Chaos..."

Ugh, Chaos, now there was an ugly new twist on an ugly old world. "Mm, taking the weight of the worlds on your shoulders?" Falk chuckled mirthlessly. "Sorry pal, but unless you're one of the ugly gods yourself, you're just wallowing in pity. Nasty trap, that one."

"No, I'm the Elkandu counterpart of one of said ugly gods," Sheniro muttered.

"Yet here you stand singin' the blues and moaning about your sins," Falk rolled his eyes. "C'mon, I'll buy you a beer, anything to get out of this damned rain."

"Although calling Slaanesh an 'ugly god' is a bit of an overstatement." Sheniro sighed and said, "Fine."

Falk laughed bitterly, turning and heading off in the direction of a local club that wasn't adverse to serving the more unsavory side of night.

"Anything about those new gods is ugly, don't care what they look like," Falk said. "The old saying about beauty being skin deep but ugly to the bone is real fuckin' fitting for them."

Sheniro followed along, putting his flute away and primarily staring at the street as the rain poured down over his hair. "Yeah..." he murmured in agreement.

The bar wasn't far away, the type of place you'd expect on the seedier side of town, dark and smoky with everyone minding their own business.

"There's other places near here that cater to the interests of those assholes," Falk said.

Falk removed his coat and shook the rain out of it, the bouncer at the door glancing only briefly at the weapons revealed underneath before looking disinterestedly away.

"This place is nice and quiet, though," he continued, "Don't bother anyone and they don't bother you. Not that someone doesn't get killed here pretty much every night, but hey."

He walked over to the bar and ordered a local beer, motioning Sheniro over.

Sheniro headed over, wringing out his hair a bit on the way. "Whatever..." he said quietly, shaking a bit of rain from his clothes.

Falk snickered at a thought the other's response brought to mind, but didn't elaborate, taking his beer and heading to a quiet table in the corner.

"So vent your angst, it's been a quiet night and I'm bored." He dropped into a booth and made himself comfortable, stretching his legs out with a sigh.

Sheniro took a seat across from him, sighing a bit as he sinks down into it. "I had enough... I'd just had enough... I realized... I realized that I was really nothing like my counterpart... This came as something of a surprise to me as the others seemed damned near the same, just without all the neat godly powers..."

"Mid-life crisis?" Falk chuckled, taking a drink before going on. "Ahh, yeah, see, those hit at the oddest damned times when you look around and go 'what the fuck am I doing here?' No big deal, really, long as you keep the important things in mind."

"He seems like such a _child_ to me... like a perpetual teenager, so immature and selfish... He disgusts me!" Sheniro sighed, leaning his head back and staring at the ceiling.

"Mm-hmm, and now you're sulking and wondering what you ever saw in it, right?" Falk snorted derisively. "So rather than accept that you fucked up and move on to make it good, you're gonna do what, hang out in alleys and wait for someone to take you out for your mistakes? Sounds like this other being's not the only one with a maturity issue, to me. Or am I wrong, eh?" he broke off with a smirk.

Sheniro grunted softly at that. "But what can I do? I'm no god... I can't just wave my hand and make it all better... I'm not even all that great a mage without my band..."

"Hmph, it's all about the Power to you, then?" Falk shook his head. "Big damn problem wherever I go, all these people whinin' and cryin' about how _they_ can't do it because they're not some great and powerful being like Keolah or some crap. If even a fraction of them got off their pity-parties and did something, _anything_ , then this shit would already be well on the way to done and over with." He shrugged. "But hey, who am I to judge, huh? Just because I go out there and do what I can, when I can, and without a band or anyone else at my back. Will it mean anything in the long run? Fuck if I know, but at least I can look at myself in the mirror without whimpering about how it's so unfair."

Sheniro looked down at the table again for a long moment. "You're right, of course," he admitted grudgingly.

"So," Falk prodded. "What're _you_ gonna do about it? Keep on keepin' on until you find that special someone to make you their victim, or get off your pointy-eared ass and do something about the shit going down? Not even saving the world, not the business I'm in, but just doing little things here and there to make up for the past and maybe help someone along the way that _might_ change the world."

"I'm a Speaker," Sheniro murmured. "Swaying the hearts and minds of people is my job... Perhaps I can convince them to fight Chaos instead..."

Falk snorted softly. "Right, so you can go right back to using power to influence others, just like the bastards that are fucking with everyone now? Hell with that, better to jump in line and party than fuck with people's minds like that. If you're gonna play, play it straight or don't play at all, otherwise you're just playin' their game."

Sheniro glared at him a bit. "That is my power... that is my _only_ power. I don't _have_ anything else to fall back on."

"Bullshit," Falk retorted bluntly. "You want to play that game, fine, use it on the assholes that deserve it. Want to rally people to fight them? Use your mind, your fame, charisma, hell bribe em. Fuck with people's heads, and you're no better than Chaos."

"I can as easily use it to free them of that influence than force them to do something against their will," Sheniro said, rubbing his eyes. "The best way to counter Speech is with Speech..."

Falk shrugged. "So use it that way, but not to convince anyone against their will. Freedom of choice is about the best damn thing about living, it's what makes the heroes and the villains, it all comes down to choice in the end."

Sheniro sighed and stood up and slowly started to walk for the door.

Falk didn't move to follow, draining the last of his beer before saying. "Don't forget that, friend, it's all a matter of choice. The good ones will make your life worthwhile, the bad ones can make countless lives hell."

"Yeah..." Sheniro murmured softly. "Thanks..." He headed for the door.

Falk shook his head, left his glass at the table, and made his own way out as well. Damn pointy-ears would have to make his own decision, hopefully it wouldn't be one that put him on the other side of the gun.


End file.
